Trains and Streetcars

We are humming Willie Nelson’s ‘The City of New Orleans’ as the eponymous train makes its day-long journey from Memphis, Tennessee to Louisiana. The train is huge, with an upper deck (posh seats, facing forwards, but more of a sway), a dining car and a viewing deck. The seats are a lot bigger than the ones on UK trains, even in coach, with foot rests, reclining backs, and extendible tray tables.

We are in the end carriage, along with four retired Geordies. They regale us with stories about travels in the US, Australia and New Zealand  and their plans for a cruise of the Caribbean after a few nights in New Orleans.

Out of the train windows we see trailer homes and box-shaped houses on stilts (I wonder if that is to reduce the flooding risk, or to stop gaters getting in?), old black men on porches, towns with names like Yazoo, Jackson and Hazlehurst. Churches with names like ‘God in the Life of Christ’ face the railroad track. We are entering the Bible belt of the South. 

Among the meandering tributaries of the mighty Mississippi,  mangrove trees and termite-mound-shaped stumps rise out of the dark water. An egret stands majestically in a strip of blackening swamp, it’s white neck slender as a swan’s.

Arriving in New Orleans, we find walking is the best way to get about.

We did take the streetcar (not called Desire) once. Rattling along at barely more than a walking pace, we are ferried along Charles into the garden district.

 DBA (Don’t Bother Asking)

New Orleans is all about the jazz  and most bars and some restaurants have live music.

Bourbon street is very vibrant and noisy, with brash bars, seedy clubs and tourist trash, but the rest of the French Quarter remains arty with high-end galleries, street jazz on every corner, and sumptuous pastry cafés.

At one restaurant, I get Mike up to dance to the crooning jazz guy (think he used to play with the Drifters) and quickly realise we should have gone to some of those dance classes in the village hall! Strictly we are not!

 

Wedding parties with jazz bands and twirling handkerchiefs like Cotswold Morris Men dance round the French quarter, throwing Mardi gras beads.

Muriel’s on Jackson Square is a N.O. institution, and we had Sunday jazz brunch as a special treat. The hotel itself was very smart, with traditional Southern decor –  maroon walls and dark wood furnishings.

Some of the best music comes from buskers on the streets and we take in the sounds on our strolls through the French Quarter, and Jackson Square – dodging the touts selling horse-drawn carriage rides.

Frenchmans Street is where the discerning jazz listeners head for, taking in the vibes at DBA and The Spotted Cat.

 

In Frenchmans we meet some more friendly Americans – a retired couple (one an ex-surfer) on a road trip from AZ to Florida, and a young couple from Oregon, with whom we share our plans to visit Portland next year.

‘We Just Ate’

We discover the best snack food in the French Market – crab cakes at ‘Food from the Heart Cafe’ and the crèpe stall – my favourite was the peanut butter, banana and Nutella (basically an ‘Elvis’ without the bacon).

Other foods we sampled included traditional Creole food – crab and ‘shrimp and grits’ and  we learned not to order a starter, because you won’t be able to eat the main course!

Creole or spicy Cajun food is popular here. Gumbo, which Mike enjoyed, is a kind of soup reminiscent of the bayou – a brown swampy dish, with alligator sausage, fish, veg or meat and a dumpling!

The ‘Green Goddess’ dished up  ‘lemongrass tofu on pressed black rice’ (which I had twice it was so good!) and burger for mike, with more craft beer!

Finally, our evening at SoBou gave us a taste of innovative fusion food, such as ‘prawns pinchos with pineapple’, ‘tuna ice cream cones’ and ‘beef burger with pickled okra’, finishing with ‘pecan flambé bananas’!

Coming up to Halloween, New Orleans began to take on a more ghoulish-voodoo-chic appearance, with transformation of most of the bars and buildings into a Hammer House of Horror film set! More on that in part two………